So enjoyed the characters and the plot is refreshing. Marwood's writing style has an ease to it that made me forget at times that I was reading. If you can stand some gore and smelly stuff, I highly recommend this one.
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Creepy, gross, and scary. Great characters. The story moves at a quick pace. ( )

3.5 stars. Was waffling betwen ratings, when I realized that I liked Alex Marwood's author bio on GR better than her book. Her novel takes place in a low income section of London, in a bedsit (boardinghouse), with the fringe-dweller tenants all seeking to escape something. The lead character Collette (Lisa), with a bag of stolen cash, is fleeing from her ex-boss and a London police detective looking to put the ex-boss in jail. The other tenants are interesting, but equally secretive: Cher, an underaged pickpocket and runaway from a dysfunctional foster care system; the handsome Hossein, an Iranian political refugee waiting for his residency; the reclusive ex-music teacher Gerard, who constantly plays loud music; Thomas, the odd duck who rents the attic; and Vesta, an elderly pensioner in the basement apartment who has always lived in the building. Their troubles are compunded by a slovenly, leering landlord, Roy Preece, who spys and preys on his tenants. But the real evil is the "Lover”, a killer who resides among them, and whose identity is concealed for much of the novel. Pretty gruesome and gory, the book spent too much time on irrelevant detail and mental meanderings, rather than suspense. ( )

Cat Ellington: Straight out of the 2018 RCE archives, baby!
My review of the eerily creepy The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood will be featured at The Review Period with Cat Ellington from 2021-04-23 - 2021-05-07.

• The Review Period with Cat Ellington: https://catellington.blogspot.com/ ( )

23 Beulah Grove has many tenants who each have a secret. There are six tenements, everyone shares bathrooms, and each resident is diverse. The landlord is an absolute creep, preying on the younger female tenants.
We learn that one of them kills females and creates "dolls" out of them. We are not made privy to who that particular tenant is and it is fun to find that out. The author really keeps you guessing, as it really could be any one of the characters in the book. ( )